Saturday Night Concert and Dance Party with Jeff Warschauer and Deborah Strauss. Klezmer melodies and hasidic songs that celebrate life and peace will be performed by Jeff and Deborah. Join us for this unique and uplifting concert. We will open the floor for dancing in the second half of the concert.

This event is part of a residency featuring luminaries Jeff Warschauer and Deborah Strauss over President’s Day weekend, February 16-19, 2017 in C-U. As part of their activities, the Program in Jewish Culture and Society and the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center are sponsoring a lecture and musical demonstration titled “Klezmer Music: From Old World to New” on Thursday, February 16th, at 7:00pm in the Music Building Auditorium. It’s a rare opportunity to have this duo here – they are in the top tier of today’s klezmer/Yiddish music scene and have performed many places around the world.

http://www.klezmerduo.com/

Strauss/Warschauer Duo

Klezmer luminaries Jeff Warschauer and Deborah Strauss will be in C-U for a residency over President’s Day weekend, February 16-19, 2017. As part of their activities, the Program in Jewish Culture and Society and the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center are sponsoring a lecture and musical demonstration titled “Klezmer Music: From Old World to New” on Thursday, February 16th, at 7:00pm in the Music Building Auditorium. In this presentation, Jeff and Deborah will explore the trajectory of klezmer music from its roots in late 19th and early 20th century Eastern European culture to its unique musical and cultural context in today’s world. It’s a rare opportunity to have this duo here – they are in the top tier of today’s klezmer/Yiddish music scene and have performed in many places around the world.

In addition to this event, Jeff and Deborah will be performing in a public concert/dance party at Sinai Temple at 7:00pm on Saturday, February 18th. They’ll also be giving a workshop for musicians and singers at the Phillips Recreation Center in Urbana on Sunday, February 19th, 2:00-4:00pm. Finally, they’ll be available for private lessons and ensemble coaching. To see their full itinerary, point your browser to http://tinyurl.com/klezmerduoitinerary.

Deborah Strauss and Jeff Warschauer

For over 25 years, Deborah Strauss (violin, accordion, voice, dance) and Cantor Jeff Warschauer (voice, guitar, mandolin) have been at the forefront of the international klezmer and Yiddish music scene. They were both long-time members of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, one of the premiere groups of the klezmer revival, and have performed with legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman on film and in concert. They serve on the faculty of KlezKanada, Yiddish Summer Weimar, the Warsaw International Summer Seminar in Yiddish Language and Culture, and KlezFest at the University of London.

Jeff is a graduate of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and is Cantor at synagogues in Massapequa, NY and Manchester, Vermont. He is on the faculty of Columbia University, and is a Founding Artistic Director and Senior Artistic Advisor of the KlezKanada Institute for Yiddish/Jewish Culture. Deborah is one of the leading klezmer fiddlers of her generation. She is also an award-winning children’s educator and a highly regarded Yiddish dancer and dance leader. Deborah studied violin at Rutgers University and ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago.

As the Strauss/Warschauer Duo, Deborah and Jeff have performed to overwhelming acclaim in such diverse venues as the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Great Britain’s Fiddles on Fire, the Jewish Culture Festival in Cracow, Poland, and the Art of Yiddish in Los Angeles with the late actor and singer Theodore Bikel. They are Yiddish speakers, and have researched and collected Yiddish and Hebrew songs and instrumental melodies since the 1980s. Together they lead some of the most popular klezmer music, Yiddish song, and traditional dance workshops throughout North America, and Eastern and Western Europe.

http://klezmerduo.com/

Michael McLoughlin, guitar
Brad Decker, bass
Chad Dunn, percussion
Jamie Ryan, percussion

At Krannert Uncorked, Stage 5 is the crossroads to gather, make connections, and try a new wine.

February 28, 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of the passage of the legislative act that created the University of Illinois in 1867. This sesquicentennial milestone provides the opportunity to commemorate our shining accomplishments of the past 150 years and to look forward to the possibilities the future holds. Krannert Center hosts the sesquicentennial kickoff celebration with a free lobby concert and reception featuring six-time Chicago Music Award winners Funkadesi, who meld musical styles from around the globe and whose one-world sound and positive vibe make the band a unique, compelling, and flat-out fun musical force. Here's to the past 150 years and to the next!

Kahil El'Zabar, percussion
Corey Wilkes, trumpet
Alex Harding, baritone sax

Stay late at Krannert Center to hear band leader Kahil El'Zabar and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble with Corey Wilkes and Alex Harding, which was formed between El'Zabar's studies with and chairing of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. After 40-plus years of eventful music making, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is still reinventing itself while making music "with a modern sensibility and an ancestral spirit" (allmusic.com).

UFL is hosting a family event celebrating Chinese New Year.

It's the Year of the Rooster! Join teachers and students from the school of the Chinese Heritage Association and celebrate the new year with bilingual stories, songs, and a craft.

This program is in collaboration with the Chinese Heritage Association. For children and their families.

Dónal Clancy is an acclaimed guitarist, singer and performer. His father and uncles of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem are often regarded as the first group to bring Irish folk song to a worldwide audience in the 1950′s and 60’s. Dónal grew up in a household and community steeped in music. He spent his early childhood in Canada and the US before his family settled back in An Rinn, Co.Waterford in 1983.

His father gave him his first guitar at the age of eight and he was playing professionally by his early teens. After returning from a residency at Delaney’s Irish Pub in Hong Kong in the mid-nineties, he co-founded the group Danú but left soon after to join a trio with his father, Liam, and cousin, Robbie O’Connell. Their debut tour in 1996 took them across the US, from the Santa Anita Race Track in Los Angeles to Lincoln Center in NY City. They continued to tour together for a couple of more years and recorded two albums before they disbanded in the early noughties.

In 1998, Dónal moved to New York where he became the go-to guitarist for many of the top Irish music acts. He contributed to albums and tours with Riverdance fiddler, Eileen Ivers and was guest guitarist with The Chieftains on their Tears of Stone Tour in Japan and the US in 1999. From 2000 – 2002 he was a member of the Irish-American super-group Solas and in 2003 he re-joined the group Danú who would go on to become one of the most successful Irish bands today.

In 2009, Dónal returned to live in Ireland with his wife, Mary and their three children. After the death of his father (the last remaining member of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem) he began to focus his attention on the family repertoire of songs that he grew up with, while keeping the Clancy tradition alive with his solo performances.

http://donalclancy.com

End of semester concert featuring Balinese Gamelan ensembles under the direction of I Ketut Gede Asnawa.

Traditional works will be performed by the UIUC Student Ensemble and Community Gamelan.

Balinese dance under the direction of Putu Oka Mardiani Asnawa will also be featured in this program.

The performance is open to the public and admission is free.

A whole afternoon of performances! During WorldFest, the Museum celebrates the wonderful variety of performance arts practiced around the world and offers hands-on activities for everyone.

The Koto Club, traditional Japanese music
Small ensemble • Ancient Mediterranean Gallery: 1:45–2:10
Full ensemble • Knight Auditorium: 3:30–4:00

Matt Jacklin and ONU World Percussion, African Gyil music
Knight Auditorium: 2:15–2:55

Marilyn Kinsella, multicultural storytelling
African and Middle Eastern Cultures Gallery: 12:30–12:55, 1:45–2:10, 3:00–3:25

Jasmine Field Orchestra, Chinese traditional and fusion music
Full ensemble • Knight Auditorium: 1:00–1:40
Small ensemble • Ancient Mediterranean Gallery: 3:00–3:25

Join us for one of the Museum’s most popular annual events, a concert of American Indian tales, told during the winter months, the traditional time of telling.

This year, our Winter Tales American Indian celebration has been expanded to three events. Our featured speaker/teller is Alex Mares. With an educational background in Anthropology and Sociology, Mr. Mares has served as a Park Ranger in Texas and New Mexico for over 28 years. This service included fifteen years as Lead Ranger at the world-renowned sacred site known as Hueco Tanks. He is a Certified Interpretive Guide through the National Association for Interpretation and is a traditional Winter Storyteller. Mr. Mares is of Diné (Navajo) and Mexican-American descent.

Winter Tales concerts are sponsored by an endowment from Reginald and Gladys Laubin. No pre-event tickets are sold. Auditorium doors open 30 minutes before the concert.